The most anonymous work in Rivette's oeuvre. Although it's worth noting that he employs the 'coup du berger' as a narrative device in several of his other films, like 'Up, Down, Fragile', 'Secret Defense' and 'Va Savoir'. So maybe it's not that anonymous after all.

The wildly bourgeois origins of the nouvelle vague. Only Truffaut would continue down this dubious road. Obviously Rohmer and Chabrol became filmmakers of the bourgeois, but they never would have subsequently indulged in this kind of empty joke. (I will say that I have to concede that Rohmer's hands seem like they are definitely in this screenplay, even if he doesn't have a writing credit.)

I was going to rate it lower, but I've thought about it and the whole idea behind it is not bad. it plays out as if it's two films at the same time, except you only notice that after the first viewing. as soon as I'd finished it, I was left with a really bad aftertaste, as if I'd just wasted half an hour of my life, but it actually rewards you after having seen it. the experience of watching it, though, is okay.